What Do You Give a Gorilla Project to Drink?

Twelve million gallons of water -- that's how much water the "Gorilla Project," a mysterious industrial project that may come to Elk Point, would consume (that's assuming a certain paper in Sioux Falls that still advertises smut is onto something in saying elements of the secret project mirror an liquid coal refinery in Illinois).

Whether the Gorilla Project is an coal refinery, an oil refinery, or a Cheerio factory, such numbers about the resource consumption of new industrial facilities are important to keep in mind. Elk Point may get 2000 new jobs, but it will also suck 12 million gallons of water from its aquifer or wells every day. That's 6000 gallons per day per job. For perspective, 12 million gallons a day is 40% of the capacity of the Lewis and Clark Rural Water project (which doesn't serve Elk Point, thank goodness, or it would dash the hopes of upstream communities like Harrisburg, Sioux Falls, and even Madison to use that new water to support population growth). Even the big ethanol plant in Watertown uses "only" two million gallons of water today, and I thought that was alarmingly high.

People need jobs, and the economy needs fuel. But one refinery slurping up 12 million gallons of water a day ought to make clear to us that simply producing more fuel is not the solution to our energy problems. It's bad enough going to war for oil; wars over water will be even worse. Instead of finding more ways to burn up more resources -- crops, topsoil, water -- just to maintain our rates of growth of fuel consumption, we need to face the reality that only conservation will provide a solid basis for our future economy. Small reductions now in how much we drive and buy and burn will allow our kids and grandkids to enjoy a safer, more stable ecnoomy. If we keep consuming, our descendants will find themselves having to make more drastic, disruptive cuts in their lifestyles. I really don't want my grandkids' taps to run dry just because we want more cheap fuel now.